


Rip This Joint

by Trams



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Bar Room Brawl, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-19 01:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9410768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trams/pseuds/Trams
Summary: "Guy blamed Hal – it was easiest that way, felt natural, and was completely accurate. If Hal hadn't opened his mouth none of what folllowed would have happened."---The one where Hal points out that maybe Guy is in love with Kyle, and Guy works out his feelings through fighting





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been finished for months, and I've been unsure about it, but at this point I just want to post it so that I can stop thinking about how I haven't posted it.
> 
> I don't remember what made me write this. I kinda wish I did, because why?

Guy blamed Hal – it was easiest that way, felt natural, and was completely accurate. If Hal hadn't opened his mouth none of what folllowed would have happened. Some could probably argue that Guy was a little bit to blame as well for going out drinking with Hal, but the evening had started with all four of them at the bar – John and Kyle too.

As the evening progressed into night John and then Kyle left, which left Guy and Hal alone. Guy was staying because drinking late meant less sleep, and less time for memories of recent events to haunt him. He had no idea why Hal was still around, usually the man would have found a woman willing to go home with him much earlier.

They sat facing each other in a booth, the table between them littered with empty bottles and glasses. Guy was looking at the bottom of another pint of beer and considering whether or not he should order another one. The bar would be open for another hour, only serving a few stragglers like Guy and Hal at this point. The mood in the bar had been cheerful and loud earlier but was subdued and quiet now.

“So Kyle died,” Hal said out of nowhere.

Guy felt as if he'd been stabbed at the reminder, it was one of the many reasons he was drinking. Guy didn't know who had told Hal about what had happened on Oa – Guy certainly hadn't told him. Maybe Kyle, though Guy doubted it, or maybe Kilowog. Whoever had told Hal, had probably expected Hal to shut up about it. Maybe the man would have, had he not been so drunk, and if he hadn't been Hal.

“And you lost your mind with rage and became a red lantern for a bit?”

Guy grunted in affirmative, choosing to take another drink of beer – having forgotten that it was empty. He put it down again with an annoyed look at the pint for betraying him like that. He looked up at Hal and caught him giving Guy a strange look, like he was trying to figure Guy out. Guy thought about telling him not to bother. Hal had tried to figure out Guy since the moment they met and the other man still seemed surprised by things about Guy – things Guy thought Hal should know by now.

“Have you-” Hal paused and frowned. He seemed to be having some internal debate with himself – a debate which ended with Hal shrugging, probably telling himself to just go for it, it was how Hal's descision making process worked after all; Guy, unfortunately, could admit to himself that he knew how Hal's mind worked, which was why he should have braced himself more for whatever was about to come out of Hal's mouth.

“Have you considered that maybe you could be a bit in in love with Kyle?” Hal asked, and then made a face bracing himself for Guy's response.

“What the hell?” Guy asked, confused and surprised.

“I'm just saying-” Hal started.

“I don't know where you get off even suggesting that. Kyle and I-” He didn't know what he was saying. He was drunk, and struggling to even process the implication in Hal's words, much less react to it. “How can you even suggest that? I-”

“I really hope the next words out of your mouth aren't offensively homophobic,” Hal muttered.

“Fuck you Jordan!” Guy exclaimed, anger taking over from the confusion.

Guy Gardner was not a homophobe. Maybe in the past he could have said some things which could be interpreted that way – but Guy had said a lot of things in the past. Didn't mean he still ageed with them. He had changed, and besides it wasn't as if he thought of himself as completely straight anymore – not that he had told anyone, it was after all none of their business. What pissed him off was the fact that Hal just assumed Guy would say something homophobic.

Getting to his feet Guy took a swing at Hal, but missed due to being drunk and Hal being surprisingly good at dodging – despite the same level of inebriation as Guy. Guy lost his balance, almost toppling forward over the table. He caught himself on the sticky table top, knocking over a few bottles. Pushing himself up again he refused to even look at Hal, and stormed out of the bar.

“Guy wait!” Hal shouted, but Guy didn't wait.

With his heart beating fast, and blood rushing in his ears, Guy took to the air. The wind was cold against his flushed face, and the flight started to calm him down a bit.

He flew towards John's apartment.

Guy didn't have an apartment on Earth anymore, and neither did Kyle, so whenever they did end up on Earth – most often because of a crisis – they ended up crashing at either John or Hal's place. John had bought an apartment in Coast City, mainly out of solidarity with Hal. John much like Guy and Kyle preferred New York, but they ended up on the west coast most of the time – again, something to blame Hal for.

Guy was glad they were in Coast City this time though, since most of the clean up was happening on the other coast, and this meant less chance of bumping into some other flyer in the air.

He landed on the large balcony to John's penthouse. John had said that if he was going to have a place in Coast City it should be a big one – he had regretted this decision as soon as he realized this would mean Guy and Kyle would always chose to crash at his place – John had even been the one who drew the building. There were two sliding doors leading inside the apartment, one to the spacious living room, and the other to the guest room Guy had claimed.

Guy stumbled towards his door. He was a bit unsteady on his legs, even though he was feeling a little more clear headed. The door was thankfully slightly open, and Guy could easily slide it open further to let himself inside.

He stopped in the doorway spotting the bottle of water and bottle of Aspirin on the dresser next to the bed. There was also a note next to the bottles, he grabbed it with a construct. The note was from Kyle; telling him that he was an idiot for drinking so much, and to drink the water before sleeping, and that the pills were for the next day.

“Heh.”

Guy smiled, and there was something warm coiling in his stomach.

Kyle could be so considerate and caring sometimes, and this extended to Guy. Kyle was a really great guy. Hal's words about Guy's feelings came back to Guy. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, crumpling the note in the process. However with his eyes closed all he could see in front of him was the memory of Kyle lying on the ground lifeless. Guy tried to swallow but there was a lump in his throat. His chest tightened, making it harder to breath. He felt trapped, and his whole body started to shake with the sudden need to leave.

Guy opened his eyes, willing away the memory – _Kyle was alive, Kyle was okay_ – on the opposite end of the room was Guy's bedroom door, and across the hall on the other side of the door was Kyle's bedroom – where Kyle was alseep, safe, and most importantly alive. In the morning they would all have breakfast, talk and joke, like everything was the same. However things weren't the same, Guy would sit there in the morning and look at Kyle, while thinking about what Hal had said. His stomach twisted in a new and uncomfortable way.

Turning around he shot up in the air, leaving again. He couldn't do all of this right now, he had to get away. He wasn't one to run away, but this wasn't running away he told himself. All he needed was some time to think, and he wasn't going to get that here on Earth. Finding another bar on the planet wouldn't have been difficult, but hee needed the longer flight – besides, Earth alcohol was a bit tame when you had tried what they drank in the rest of the universe.

Guy ended up on a small backwater planet in sector 2813, in a shabby bar with shady looking characters. Guy sat down on a stool by the counter and ordered the strongest stuff they had. The flight had made him start to feel mostly sober again, and he definitely needed to correct that.

He couldn't stop the thoughts from spinning around in his head, or the swirling mess of emotions. If Hal hadn't said anything Guy would just have carried on like nothing. He wouldn't all of a sudden sit here and question the most important friendship in his life, and it was important, Kyle was important to Guy – but did that mean Guy loved Kyle? He didn't know.

Guy sighed and finished the glass in front of him. It was bad enough that he kept having the memories of seeing the world in red, as if everything was on fire, and all he could feel was anger. Not even the anger he was familiar with, this anger had been something else, something almost alive inside of him, which both belonged and felt foreign all at the same time. Now Hal had made Guy think about what had unleashed it, and that was something Guy had tried so hard not to think about.

His memories had only been about the anger, and not so much about the pain, but now that Hal had reminded him, the pain returned, and this time he didn't have an outlet for it. At the time he had turned the pain into anger automatically without thinking about it – _it was what he did_. Anger he could handle, all his pain was turned into anger because it was easier to handle, but now he didn't have that. Instead he could do nothing but remember the hurt. The all encompassing pain in his chest when he thought Kyle was dead.

Thinking about losing Kyle, he could feel his chest start to constrict again, and something inside of him twisted. All the things that would be gone from Guy's life if Kyle died kept playing through his mind: no more spending time together just the two of them; no more movie nights; no more having someone to work side by side with in companionable silence in the bar; no more having Kyle at his back in a fight, and there was no one Guy would rather have than Kyle protecting his back; no more easy friendship where they could bullshit with each other for hours, but also having someone Guy felt comfortable opening up to – _someone to confide in_. He had never thought he needed any of that in the past, but now he couldn't bear the thought of losing it.

A large, heavy, hand clamped down on Guy's shoulder, interrupting his train of thought. Guy was grateful for the interruption. He turned around on the stool, behind him stood a huge alien, several heads taller than Guy; it was purple, and broad chested, wearing a sleevless shirt showing off arms twice the size of Guy's thighs; it had a head like a bull, complete with horns sticking out to the sides and curved up, ending in sharp looking points.

“You are in my seat,” the bull-dude said, in a low threatening voice.

“Really? I didn't see your name anywhere on it,” Guy said. If the alien was going to be a giant cliché then Guy was happy to join in.

“Don't need no name on it, everyone knows I sit there.”

“Oh, yeah, and what'cha gonna do about it?” Guy asked, not even trying to reign in the taunting grin.

“I'm gonna politely ask you to move and if you don't, I'll have to start getting violent.”

“How about we just skip to the part where you hit me, and we start fighting?” Guy asked, feeling reckless, and like a fight would be exactly the distraction he needed.

“Fine by me.”

“Not fine by me,” the bartender said, but both Guy and the alien bull-dude ignored him.

The alien hit Guy's jaw with a right hook. Guy rolled with the punch. He let the ring protect him just enough to not have his jaw broken. Guy grinned, his head ringing a little. Adrenaline started to pump through his veins, making his heart race.

“Now we're talking,” he said.

Guy guessed that it would be a terrible idea to headbutt this bull-dude considering his size. So Guy grabbed the dude's shirt, pulled himself up on his feet at the same time as he tugged the bull-dude down, and headbutted him.

Guy stumbled back, dazed, and his head spinning a little. He bumped into the counter behind him. The bull-dude stumbled back a step too, but shook his head and focused on Guy again.

“Fight!” someone else in the bar shouted. Guy could hear, and in his periphery see, how some other patrons started fighting each other. The bull-dude only had his focus on Guy, the alien growled. Guy was suddenly lifted high into the air by the bull, before he was thrown across the room

He landed with an 'omph' on a table, air pushed out of his lungs. The aliens around the table had been playing cards, and money and cards flew every which way. He careened across the table and almost fell off the edge of it, head first into the lap of one of the aliens. He stopped himself with a firm grip on the table edge. Guy spotted cards in the alien's lap, figuring it wasn't the most talented cheater. Guy scooped up the cards and held them in the air.

“Should you have these?” he asked, going for innocent curiosity, and knowing he missed it by a mile, but that wasn't what mattered.

“Cheater!” the other aliens shouted. There was a clattering of chairs as the aliens got to their feet, including the cheater.

Someone, the cheater most likely, grabbed the back of Guy's vest and dragged him off the table. Guy landed on his stomach again. He rolled over on his back. Next to his head stood the cheater looking down at him. At Guy's feet stood the alien's companions. They were alll from the same species. All of them looking like tall, green, lizard's standing on two legs. They wore sleeveless tunics underneath hardened leather armor, and no pants.

“I am going to kill you,” the cheating lizard told Guy, and glared daggers at him, its scales slowly turning red.

“We told you if you cheated again we would beat you up and leave you on this rock,” one of the other aliens said. They were all ignoring Guy and glaring at the cheater, their scales turning red too.

“Oooh,” Guy said, still lying on the floor. “Your scales change color depending on your mood? Lemme guess, you're all turning red because you've fallen madly in love with me?”

This made the other lizards take note of Guy.

“You are disgusting,” one of the lizards hissed at Guy.

He was about to open his mouth to say something about protesting too much, but the cheater-lizard kicked Guy in the side with a steel-toed boot. Guy grunted.

A fleeting thought about wishing Kyle was there popped into his mind – not because he needed Kyle's help, but because most things were more fun with Kyle around, that included fighting. He'd never felt like this before.

The other three lizards were circling him now. Guy spotted the tail of one of them dangling between its legs. Guy reached out and grabbed it. In a move he had learned from watching Vat and Isamot spar, he pulled on the tail with all his strenght. The lizard yelped and fell on its back.

The other lizards were staring at him in surprise, so Guy got to his feet and punched the cheater-lizard in its face.

“All yours boys,” he said to the remaining lizards. He looked past them and saw that the bull-dude was busy fighting a massive octopus. Shaking his head he pushed past the lizards, and started making his way over to the bull.

He had only made it a few steps when someone hit him over the back with a chair, breaking it apart. Guy stumbled forward. He avoided falling, and spun around. Behind him stood an alien who looked a little bit like a sheep, if sheep had grey wool made out of barbed wire, razor sharp claws on paws instead of hooves, sharp pointy teeth, walked on two legs, and were as tall as Guy – so in other words, it looked nothing like a sheep at all.

“What the fuck?” Guy mumbled. Space was filled with so much weirdness.

“Why did you have to go and start a fight for?” The sheep asked, and growled.

“I am not in love with my best friend!” Guy shouted. _He wasn't, he couldn't be._

The sheep – still holding the ruined chair – stared at Guy, looking very confused.

“What?” It asked.

“Nevermind, let's just fight,” Guy said.

But he couldn't stop thinking about what Hal had said. He knocked out the sheep and moved on to another alien. On the one hand still thinking about Hal's words was a good thing, because every time someone else attacked him he could imagine them having Hal's face, and he happily punched them. If he was fast enough Hal in his mind could never finish the sentence – _unfortunately for Guy, he wasn't always fast enough._

A tall blue skinned alien with black tattoos all over his face and body got him with a sucker punch which left Guy's head ringing, and over the ringing he heard Hal's voice again:

_'Maybe you're in love with Kyle?'_

“I'm not!” Guy shouted. He shook his head trying to get rid of the ringing, and the words. The guy with the tattoos stared confused at Guy. Guy punched the alien in the stomach and it bent over forward gasping for breath.

Surely it didn't mean anything that Guy wanted to spend most of his time with Kyle, he enjoyed being around Kyle; it didn't mean anything that Guy had completely fallen apart when Kyle had died – _it didn't mean anything, right?_

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” the guy with the tattooed face said, It's voice high pitched enough that Guy could hear it over the sound of fighting around them.

“You are no help at all,” Guy muttered. He punched the alien, knocking it out.

All around him everyone was fighting and Guy took it in for a second. Until someone crashed right into him, taking them both to the ground. The something turned out to be a large ant dressed in a pink leopard print dress. It was almost as tall as Guy, and quite heavy lying on top of Guy. The ant scrambled to its feet, as did Guy. The ant was faster however and started running towards the door. Guy shook his head, and got to his feet. Kyle was not going to believe Guy when he told him about that, or maybe he would, Kyle had been in space as much as Guy had.

Guy frowned and punched another alien in the face. Now he was making notes on things to remember to tell Kyle – though to be honest that wasn't exactly a new development, he'd spent a long time making sure to remember various events that happened to him when Kyle was absent, which he could tell Kyle about later, because he knew Kyle would find them interesting or amusing.

The alien Guy had punched pushed Guy into what felt a lot like a brick wall, but turned out to be the bull-dude again.

“You!” The alien shouted.

“Me,” Guy said and grinned. Since the alien seemed surprised, Guy took the advantage and punched the bull-dude in the side. Aiming for where the kidney would have been on a human. The bull-dude merely grunted, but before he could do anything was pulled away by a weird looking tentacle attached to some alien's face. Guy mouthed the word 'freaky'. At the same time the alien who had pushed Guy jumped up on Guy's back. It's claws on both hands and feet digging in through Guy's uniform, and it buried its teeth in Guy's shoulder, near his neck.

“Ow! Ow! Stop it! I don't know where your mouth's been!” Guy shouted. “I don't want another rabies shot!” Last time Soranik had given him one, her construct syringe had definitely been much larger than it needed to be.

He reached over his shoulder and slapped the alien but it didn't let go, it just continued to chew on Guy. He grabbed the alien and pulled at it, at the same time as he leaned forward, easily flipping it off of his back. He slammed the alien on the floor, and it looked up at Guy with large eyes in its pink face, it's mouth full of teeth and blood. It chittered at Guy in a way not even the ring could translate.

“Well fuck you too,” Guy said, and kicked it in the head.

He started walking away from the alien, his thoughts drawn to Kyle again instead. He thought about Kyle laughing with Guy after a fight. Guy regaling Kyle by telling, sometimes reenacting, some part of the fight, and repeating some particularly good quip he'd made – definitely better than just _'fuck you too'_ – making Kyle laugh. He liked making Kyle laugh, and thinking about Kyle smiling made him feel warm, and his heart flutter – though he supposed that could just be the adrenaline from the fighting playing with his heart rate. Distracted he was surprised when suddenly he was brought down to the floor by a whole group of aliens.

“Die!” one of them shouted, which was a bit dramatic, and also uneccessarily blood-thirsty. This was after all just a brawl, not a fight to the death. However he wasn't paricularly worried about himself.

Guy had always had a strong belief in himself, but at this moment in time, that thought only made him think about how Kyle believe in him – not just for the situation at hand, but in general. Guy had had a sneaking suspicion for some time that Kyle believing in him had made Guy, not a different person, and not better – because how could you improve on perfection? – but had changed him a little bit. Evolved him perhaps. Kyle never expected anything from Guy, except for Guy to have his back in a fight, but even without expectations Guy found himself wanting to be better for Kyle.

Guy cheated a little and used the ring to create a forcefield bubble around himself. Expanding the bubble quickly sent the aliens on top of him flying.

Once on his feet again Guy punched the nearest alien in the face. Yellow stuff came squirting out of its nose where Guy's fist connected.

“Yuck,” Guy muttered. There was a yellow stain both on his gloves and his chest. “That better be your version of blood and not something else disgusting,” Guy said and looked up at the alien. “That was not a question. Do not answer it.” He frowned at the alien, but all he could see was Hal's stupid face telling him that maybe he was in love with Kyle. He punched the alien again, knocking it out. He wasn't paying a lot of attention to it though.

 _'What if Hal was right?'_ – Guy thought at the same time as another alien got in a lucky punch and hit Guy's nose. Guy felt it breaking, blood started pouring, and he bit back a shout. He wiped away most of the blood with the back of his hand.

The alien that hit him was big and grey, and – Guy found out when he punched him – had skin almost as hard as rock. Guy punched it again, the alien just laughed and tried to punch Guy in the head again. Guy blocked the fist with his arm, it felt like being hit with a sledgehammer, and if he didn't have the ring his arm would have been broken. He used his other arm to punch the alien, even though it was was like hitting a wall.

_'What if Hal was right?'_

Even aided with a little bit of power from the ring, the gloves started tearing, and he scraped his knucles raw and bloody against the alien.

Kyle was Guy's best friend – sometimes it felt like his only friend. And when Kyle had died, and left Guy, he had fallen apart completely. Maybe Hal was right? Maybe there was something more to it.

Every punch, be it his own against the alien's thick skin, or the punches he took from the alien were jarring and painful, but he continued. His mind completely preoccupied with thoughts of Kyle. The pain was secondary. The pain was familiar, almost grounding in a way. Everything narrowed down, the sounds around him disappeared, and all he was left with was the pain and the swirling mass of confused thoughts and emotions.

He held his arm up to block a punch from the alien, when someone came up behind him and grabbed his arm. Before he could react, his arm was wrenched behind his back with such force Guy not only felt, but also heard how it was pulled from it's socket. He couldn't keep back the pained shout. It was silenced within seconds however when the alien in front of Guy took the advantage and punched Guy on the chin. Guy's head snapped back against the chest of the alien behind him. Guy opened his mouth wide making sure his jaw wasn't broken. It felt sore, but he could move it. His mouth tasted of blood however and he spit it out in the general direction of the alien in front of him.

“Heh. That the best you guys can do?” Guy asked with a grin. He twisted his head a little to look at the alien still holding on to his arm. Guy stomped on that alien's foot, it grunted. Guy shoved an elbow into the alien's stomach, and was released as the alien grunted in pain. Guy spun around, the alien behind him was only slightly taller than Guy but bent forward a little, Guy headbutted it. The alien stumbled a few steps bawkwards. Dazed it tripped over a fallen chair and fell to the floor itself as well.

A strong arm grabbed Guy in a chokehold, which reminded him that he had been fighting another alien. Guy gasped for breath.

He wondered briefly how Kyle would react if Guy died, but it was only a fleeting thought. No way was Guy going to die in a bar brawl. At least not yet. He was about to break free when he was interrupted.

“Oh no you don't!” Someone shouted, and suddenly the bull-dude was there tackling the alien holding Guy to the floor. “I still haven't beaten him to a pulp!”

Guy wasn't brought down to the floor this time, instead he stumbled towards the counter. Guy threw himself against the counter hoping to set the arm back in its place. He more or less succeeded, but had to scream again. He could move the arm, but it was sore and hurt like hell, but it was better than nothing. He spat out some more blood on the floor.

He looked around the bar, chairs and tables were overturned, broken glass was everywhere; there were pools of liquid here and there. Blood spatter in a variety of colors decorated anything from the floor, to the walls, to the fallen patrons; most had fled though, and those left were mostly lying in heaps on the floor.

He was reluctant to admit that Hal was right about anything, and yet he couldn't shake the thought from his mind. Couldn't shake the feeling inside his chest when he thought about Kyle. Kyle meant a lot to Guy. He was important.

“Earthling!” the bull-dude belllowed, interrupting Guy's thoughts again, and getting to his feet. The other alien lay still, and bleeding on the floor.

“Ya ready to lose?” Guy asked, with his best shit-eating grin.

The bull-dude roared and charged towards Guy. Head bent and horns looking very pointy as they came towards Guy's midsection. A second before he was hit, Guy jumped straight up. Aided by the ring he flew out of danger. He put his hands on the aliens back, and pushed himself over the alien. He kanded on his feet, and turned around in time to see the bull crash straight into the bar, head first. The alien tried to pull back, but its horns didn't move. It tried again with the same result. It was stuck.

“Looks like I won this one,” Guy said with a grin.

“Asshole!” the bull-dude shouted.

“Yeah, yeah,” Guy said. He was interrupted by a bottle hitting his head and breaking to pieces. Guy looked to the side and glared at the alien who had hit him. It was several feet shorter than Guy, floating in the air on flimsy looking wings that seemed to have come from an overgrown butterfly, it was bright blue, had a short trunk and a bowler hat on its head. The bowler hat was all it wore.

“That was pretty stupid of you,” Guy said. Whatever had been in the bottle was dripping both down his neck, as well as down his fringe trickling down his forehead, and into his eyes. He used the back of his hand to try and wipe it away, probably smearing blood in his face again. He looked at the alien again, and considered that maybe he was hallucinating it.

“I'm not scared of you, you big bully!” the allien shouted in a high pitched voice. Guy sneered. He gave it a right hook which sent it flying through the room spinning around screaming. The bowler hat had flown off its head and Guy caught it with a construct. He put it on his head right before he was jumped by two other aliens.

He was pushed to the ground, the hat flying off his head, and his ankle twisted badly.

“Fuckers!” he shouted.

Guy ended up on his back with one of the aliens on top of him. The alien clawed his chest, Guy's vest tore open, and claws sank in deep. Guy screamed and bucked to get the alien off of him. When that didn't work he sat up as fast as he could headbutting the alien. That action knocked it back. However it stopped itself by digging its claws into Guy's thighs. Guy held back another pained scream by biting his own tongue until he could taste blood.

He thought about Kyle to distract himself from the pain. The look of pure concentration on Kyle's face whenever he was drawing. The way he seemed to get lost in his own little world as soon as someone gave him a paintbrush. How it was the only time Kyle seemed to be truly relaxed. Guy enjoyed watching Kyle paint, it was calming, relaxing.

The second alien came towards Guy from the side. Jaw open and ready to bite Guy's left arm. Guy rolled over to his right, dislodging the first alien with the movement. Using the ring he pushed himself up on his feet. He kicked the alien that had almost bitten him. It careened across the floor before hitting a table. A spike of pain shot up from the leg he was standing on, he had forgotten about his ankle twisting. The leg bent underneath him and he sank down on the floor.

He never really stopped thinking about Kyle, not even now. Kyle meant more to Guy than any other person. He wanted to protect him, wanted to keep him safe, because Guy knew he would break apart again if he lost Kyle. Maybe he had been too blind. Maybe he hadn't gotten the time to think for himself what it all meant. Or maybe he would never had realized anything if Hal had just kept his mouth shut.

He had to close his eyes because he was seeing black spots in front of him. He was suspecting that maybe he should have asked the ring for a little bit more protection. However he had assumed the fighting and pain would be distracting, but now all he could think of was Kyle with his concerned frown on his face. Kyle would wonder why Guy didn't ask the ring for more shielding – he would probably wonder why Guy had gotten himself into this fight in the first place too.

He considered asking the ring for more shielding, but what would be the point now? These were the last two aliens not already knocked out.

Guy grabbed the alien closest to him, and pushed it to the ground. It tried to bite him, but Guy was able to punch it in the head. He slammed it into the floor, before lifting it up and throwing it against the bar. It hit and fell to the ground unconscious.

He thought about Kyle, and his stomach twisted with all the emotions and he almost missed the second alien, the one that had crashed into a table, getting up again and charging towards Guy. Frowning, Guy made himself a green construct baseball bat. He used all the strenght he had left while kneeling on the ground to swing the bat as hard as possible. He hit the aliens legs, breaking them with a large crack. It fell to the ground and Guy knocked it out.

He used the construct bat to get up on his feet and stood there for a moment just looking at the complete chaos.

It was while standing there that Guy admitted to himself that maybe he was in love with Kyle.

Guy used a construct to grab the bowler hat again and put it on his head. Bleeding and bruised Guy limped up to the counter and sat down on one of the few still intact chairs, closing his eyes and sighing.

“Another drink,” Guy said. “Please,” he added. He got no response. He opened his eyes. The bartender had disappeared. Sighing again Guy made a construct hand, to fetch a bottle and a glass. He filled one glass, but hesitated. He glanced over at the bull-dude who was glancing back at Guy with a glare. Guy filled another glass and handed it over to the alien with another construct.

“How am I supposed to drink it like this?” the alien asked. Guy made the mistake of shrugging and couldn't help grimacing from the pain shooting up his shoulder. He made a construct straw for the alien.

“Figure it out,” Guy said. The alien muttered something Guy couldn't hear or the ring couldn't translate – he was unsure.

Guy took a drink. The alcohol burning down his throat in a satisfying way. Perhaps he could stay here for a while and get drunk. Try and forget any recent realizations.

He closed his eyes. He couldn't deny it to himself, not anymore; that feeling inside of him, that exciting, elated, feeling, whenever he thought about Kyle, it was love. He felt warm, and his heart swelled, that was love – he couldn't make himself forget about it now. He kind of wished he could however, because in the end what difference would his realization make? None. He wished Hal hadn't opened his mouth.

He sat in silence for a long while. Finishing the glass, filling it up again, and taking another drink from it before setting it down on the counter top again. At the same time Kyle walked in through the door. Guy eyed the glass with a suspicious look. He turned to look at Kyle, unable to stop his smile when he looked at him. It made him happy to see Kyle and when Kyle smiled back at him it felt like his heart jumped.

“Kyle,” Guy said. Trying to keep his emotions in check, which had never been his strong suit. Kyle was looking around the state of the bar. “Whatcha doin' here?” Guy asked.

“Hal,” Kyle said and paused, looking at Guy. More specifically the top of Guy's head. Before he shook his own head. “Hal said you two had a fight.”

“Exaggerating,” Guy said, and he really hadn't had enough to drink if he wasn't surring. “It was just a minor difference of opinion.” Guy gave Kyle a questioning look. “What else he say?” Guy asked. Suddenly worried that Hal would have said something more about what exactly the fight had been about.

Kyle shrugged. Walking closer to Guy.

“Not much. Said I should go make sure you didn't get yourself into trouble.”

“Couldn't take care of the mess he himself created. Had to send someone else,” Guy muttered low under his breath. Kyle didn't seem to hear. He was glancing around the bar again.

“I see I was too late,” Kyle said.

“Nah, this was no trouble,” Guy said. “Just a small brawl.”

“You'd think you'd have had enough of fighting for a while after all that went down recently.”

“Me, have enough of fighting?” Guy's eyes narrowed. “Do you even know me?”

“You're right. I don't know why I said that,” Kyle said with a laugh. Something inside Guy twisted painfully. He found himself thinking about kissing Kyle and he had to look away.

“How did you find me?” Guy asked. Still not looking at Kyle, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Kyle making his way even closer. Carefully stepping over a few unconscious aliens.

“Some guy called the corps. Said there was a brawl and his bar was getting trashed. Figured you might be in the middle of it.”

“He started it,” the bull-dude said.

“Shut your lying mouth,” Guy said. He pointed at the alien. “He started it,” he said. At that moment Kyle stopped next to Guy, but Guy wasn't looking at him. Was busy staring at his glass, which was why he was unprepared for Kyle's voice being so close and for the hand on his arm.

“You're hurt,” Kyle said. Guy flinched before he could stop himself. Kyle pulled back his hand like it had been burned. Guy wished he could tell Kyle to touch him again. Guy still didn't look at him. He took a drink from his glass instead.

“It's nothin',” he said after he swallowed.

“It's not, nothing,” Kyle protested. Guy did look up at him and noticed that concerned frown he knew would be there. “You're covered in blood,” Kyle said.

“Most of it's not mine,” Guy protested. Though considering how weak he felt, that was maybe a lie. “The yellow stuff's definitely not mine,” Guy said to try and steer it away from his possible mild blood loss. While looking down at himself. “Looks like one of Sinestro's boys threw up all over me. Although they didn't do a lot of puking so maybe not-”

“Soranik's here, I'll tell her to check up on you,” Kyle interrupted. Guy's head snapped up to look at Kyle.

“You brought her?” Guy sked. He hoped there wasn't anything in his tone of voice. He had probably managed to get away with it because Kyle didn't look at him funny, instead he just lifted his ring hand to contact Soranik.

A moment later Soranik walked through the door. She arched an eyebrow at the chaos inside, but didn't say anything, instead she walked over to Kyle and Guy. It was impossible to miss the way she reached out for Kyle, her fingers trailing down his arm, and even more impossible to miss Kyle placing a hand on the small of her back and smile at her. Something twisted painfully in Guy's chest, he did his best to ignore it.

“You in pain?” Soranik asked.

“I'm fine,” Guy snapped. Maybe he sounded a little too harsh. He had to remind himself he wasn't supposed to act any different around her or Kyle – besides it wasn't her fault. She didn't seem to care about his tone though, as she just rolled her eyes and sighed. She was used to him, already knew that he could be both difficult and an asshole.

“One day I'll let you bleed to death,” she muttered before going into doctor mode. Usually Guy would say something back to tease her, but he just didn't have the energy for it. Kyle probably noticed because he gave Guy a considering look which Guy ignored.

Soranik poked and prodded him. Made a lot of construct bandages, muttered something about a rabies shot, made something that was a little bit like an MRI machine, but Korougarian and hand held – so not a lot like an MRI machine.

“You have a concussion,” Soranik said after a little while.

“I do not,” Guy said automatically just to be contrary. “I promised my doctor back on Earth I would avoid more head injuries.”

Soranik closed her eyes, tilted her head back and took two deep breaths. Guy's eyes were drawn to her chest. Sure he was probably a bit in love with Kyle, and sure she was Kyle's girlfriend, but Guy was still Guy, and she did have spectacular boobs.

“You also have a twisted ankle, you wanna deny that one too?” Soranik asked. One eyebrow arched, he noticed when he looked up at her face again.

“Nah, that one I think I'll agree with you about,” Guy said.

“Broken nose,” she continued. “Want me to set it right this time?”

“Seems unecessary,” Guy said. “I like my nose.”

“Could have fooled me considering how often you seem to break it,” Soranik said. “Anyway. I'm going to go see if I have any pain medication in my bags outside. I'll be back in a minute.”

Guy did not watch her and Kyle's hands touch as she walked past him to the exit.

“Are you okay?” Kyle asked once she was outside. Kyle pulled over another chair and sat down next to Guy. The concerned expression was still there, and Guy had to look away or he'd probably blurt out how much he wanted to kiss Kyle.

“You heard the verdict,” Guy said. Making the mistake of shruggin, and grimacing in pain.

“No, I mean before this. Are you really trying to tell me it was just a small argument with Hal, that made you take off?”Kyle asked. “Because if you left Earth everytime you two had an argument you'd never stay on the planet.”

“I didn't stay on Earth though,” Guy said. “I moved to Oa. He didn't continue with _'with you, to open a bar._ Maybe he should have realized sooner.

“You know what I mean. What's going on?” Kyle asked.

Guy cursed Kyle's sudden perceptiveness.

“Nothing. 's just been a lot lately,” he said. This at least got Kyle to nod in agreement.

“Yeah,” Kyle said.

They were silent for a moment before Guy opened his mouth.

“You and Soranik seem to be getting along still, despite your ex coming back to life and kissing you a few days ago,” Guy said. Because apparently he wanted more pain.

Kyle sighed and buried his face in his hands.

“Yeah, we are going to have a talk about that later.” He glance to his side at Guy. “You want to listen to me freak out about it later, but before I have that talk with Sora?”

Guy took a deep breath and forced a smile on his face.

“Sure buddy. What else are friends for?”

Kyle gave Guy a grateful smile.

Guy considered going back to Earth and punching Hal for real. He forced himself to not look away from Kyle. Made himself just watch his face for a moment longer. He did love him, there was a yearning in his chest to touch, to hold, to keep Kyle safe. He desperately wished he hadn't realized it, because there was never any hope of anything happening. Between Kyle's actual girlfriend and Kyle's ex coming back to life Kyle had a pretty messed up situation already on his hands.

Eventually Guy did look away. He blamed Hal. Blamed Hal for opening Guy's eyes, for making Guy think about his own feelings. He blamed his heart for falling in love so easily, when he thought he did his best to prevent that from happening. The frustrating part however was that deep down he knew he couldn't blame anyone or anything. All of this had been entierly out of his control, like so many other things in Guy's life.

He'd deal with it though. He'd move past it, move on. He could do that, despite how much he didn't want to he knew it was the only option. He glanced at Kyle, his heart twisting again. Maybe he could bribe Salakk, make sure they didn't have to work together for a while. Give himself some breathing space, some time to get to grips with his own feelings.

Guy sighed and closed his eyes.

Maybe one day he would be over Kyle, but it wasn't going to be any time soon.


End file.
